Junior Digest

New Delhi, May 13: India has logged 3,62,727 COVID-19 positive cases and 4,120 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative total to 2,37,02,832 and 2,58,317, respectively, data revealed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported on Thursday.
The number of daily infections crossed daily recoveries in the country with 3,62,727 fresh cases being reported in the last 24 hours. The daily recovered cases stand at 3,52,181, according to the Ministry.
Meanwhile, the active cases have risen to 37,10,525.
Maharashtra’s infection count remained under 50,000 for the fourth consecutive day, while Kerala and Tamil Nadu recorded new highs of over 43,000 and 30,000 cases, respectively.
With 18,94,991 people being vaccinated against the virus over 24 hours, the total number of vaccines having being administered has reached 17,72,14,256.
Leaders of 12 Opposition parties, including four chief ministers, have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking the Centre to procure vaccines centrally from global and domestic sources and begin a free, universal mass vaccination campaign across the country.
In US, 57 Congressmen have written to President Joe Biden, urging him to bolster America’s Covid-19 assistance to India. “The sharp increase in cases has overwhelmed India’s healthcare system. We must do our part to quell the virus everywhere it persists,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Biden on Wednesday. “We are extremely concerned with regards to India’s deadly Covid-19 second wave. India is now the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. Today marked India’s deadliest day, with 4,205 deaths reported, carrying the total number of confirmed deaths to more than 250,000,” said the letter initiated by Congressman Brad Sherman, the Democratic Chair of the Congressional India Caucus.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has deferred hearing the suo motu matter on the Covid situation in the country after Justice DY Chandrachud tested positive for the deadly virus.

Chitrakoot, May 14: Three dreaded criminals were killed in a firing inside the Chitrakoot District jail on Friday morning, police here said.
According to police, an inmate shot dead two criminals in a high security barrack in the jail this morning following which police gunned down the killer in an encounter.
At around 1000 hrs, Anshu Dikshit shot dead Mukim Kala of west UP and Meraz Ali of eastern UP before holding five other prisoners captive in the high security barrack, police said in a statement.
Later, SP and DM rushed to the spot and asked Dikshit to free the five captive prisoners but he refused and pointed pistols at them, forcing the police to shoot him, the statement read.
Following the incident, the authorities launched a major search operation inside the jail to locate more weapons if any.
Officials claimed that the situation was normal now and a probe has been ordered to find out how the weapon used by Anshu was smuggled inside the jail.
However police claimed that preliminary probe suggest that the incident was related to gang rivalry between the criminal groups inside the jail.
DIG jails PN Pandey has rushed from Prayagraj, while some officials are also arriving from Lucknow to investigate the incident.
Dikshit, a native of Sultanpur, was shifted to Chitrakoot jail in December 2019.
Kala was a dreaded criminal of west UP and had a network of criminal empire in region of Shamli, Muzzafarnagar and west UP. He was shifted to Chitrakoot jail from Saharanpur jail recently. There are at least 61 criminal cases of murder, kidnapping and other crime pending in west UP against Kala.
In February, Kala’s mother had moved a petition in Allahabad high court fearing murder of her son inside the jail.
Meraz Ali, reported to be an associate of Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari, was transferred from Varanasi jail on March 20 last. He used to handle the criminal activities of Ansari in west UP with the help of Kala after the death of Munna Bajrangi.
After the incident, security in the nearby Banda jail has been tightened where mafia don Mukhtar Ansari is lodged.
Mukhtar’s family had already raised the issue of threat on his life inside UP jail in the Supreme Court.
The state witnessed a similar incident on July 9, 2018 sharp shooter Munna Bajrangi was shot dead in a similar manner inside the Bagpat jail.
Criminal Sunil Rathi killed Munna Bajrangi with a 9 mm pistol. CBI is probing the killing and Sunil Rathi is presently lodged in the Fatehgarh jail.

New Delhi, May 9: India recorded 4,03,738 fresh Covid cases and 4,092 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the overall caseload to 2.22 crore and fatalities to 2,42,362, Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.

Out of these, over 37.36 lakh cases are currently active, comprising 16.76 per cent of the total infections, while over 1.79 crore people have recovered at 82.15 per cent.

This is the fifth time in a week that the country has reported over 4 lakh daily infections.

Maharashtra reported 56,578 cases while Karnataka had 47,563. Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh were the other top contributors.

Meanwhile, a total of 16,94,39,663 people have been vaccinated across the nation till Sunday with 20,23,532 people being vaccinated in the last 24 hrs.

A total of 30,22,75,471 samples have been tested up to May 8 with 18,65,428 samples taken in 24 hrs, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.

Data released by the government, on Covid patients requiring critical care, shows that nearly 50,000 people are currently in ICUs while over 14,000 on ventilator support.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke with the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh over the phone to take stock of the pandemic situation in their states.

In another development, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved an anti-Covid oral drug developed by DRDO in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for emergency use. A clinical trial showed that the drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients, reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.

Guwahati, May 9: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma to be the next Chief Minister of Assam.

The decision was taken after the newly elected legislators met today at Guwahati under three central observers of the BJP.

Meanwhile, the sitting Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal resigned from his on May 9. He met with the governor of Assam, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi at the Raj Bhawan in Guwahati and tendered his resignation.

The name of incumbent CM Sarbananda Sonowal and incumbent health minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma had been doing the rounds ever since the Assam Elections 2021 concluded and the BJP-led alliance came to power.

The confusion prevailed as the BJP didn’t announce its chief ministerial candidate even days after sweeping the Assam Assembly polls.

Himanta Biswa Sarma has won from the Jalukbari constituency and was holding the portfolio of finance and health in the outgoing BJP government.

Sarma’s political career started in 1996 when he joined the Indian National Congress. He was first elected as MLA from the Jalukbari Assembly constituency in 2001 on a Congress ticket.

He had defeated Assam Gana Parishad leader Bhrigu Phukan. Since then he has been winning the Jalukbari seat. He won the seat four times – 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016, 2021. He contested from the Jalukbari seat for the sixth time in this election.

Sarma has served as the Assam Education, Health & Family Welfare, Agriculture, Planning and Development, PWD and Finance portfolios.

He is Assam’s current Finance, Health, Planning & Development, Education and PWD minister.

It was in May 2015 that Himanta Biswa Sarma a frontrunner of the Congress in Assam, jumped ship and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Instantly he became an integral part of the saffron party in Assam and within months he became the lead face of BJP not just in Assam but in the whole of Northeast.

He was made the NEDA (North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Convenor and since 2015, Sarma has played a key role in making Northeast ‘Congress Mukt’ slogan of BJP.

New Delhi, May 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday praised the scientists and those passionate about technology on National Technology Day.

In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister said,“On National Technology Day, we salute the hardwork and tenacity of our scientists and those passionate about technology. We remember with pride the 1998 Pokhran Tests, which demonstrated India’s scientific and technological prowess.”

“In any challenging situation, our scientists and innovators have always risen to the occasion and worked to mitigate the challenge. Over the last year, they have worked industriously to fight COVID-19. I appreciate their spirit and remarkable zeal”, he further said in another tweet.

National Technology Day is celebrated every year on May 11 to highlight the achievements of engineers and scientists in the field of technology and science. The day acts as a reminder of the country’s technological advancements. It was first observed on May 11, 1999, and aims to commemorate the scientific and technological achievements of Indian scientists and engineers.

Former prime minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee coined this term to celebrate the contributions made by Indian scientists. May 11 is also the day when India conducted its second successful nuclear test in Pokhran.

On May 11, 1998, India successfully fired the Shakti-I nuclear missile at an Army test range in Rajasthan’s Pokhran. Two days later, the country conducted two more nuclear tests as a part of the same operation, following which India joined the elite club of nuclear power nations.

New Delhi, May 10: India recorded 3,66,161 fresh Covid-19 cases and 3,754 related deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health said on Monday.

With the fresh cases and fatalities, the country’s cumulative total has mounted to 2,26,62,575 and 2,46,116, respectively.

India presently accounts for 37,45,237 cases.

However, as compared to the usual 18-19 lakh samples a day, only 14.74 lakh samples were tested on Sunday, ICMR data stated, adding that 30,37,50,077 samples have been tested up to May 10.

Total 17,01,76,603 people have been administered COVID-19 vaccines since January 16, 2021, with 6,89,652 being inoculated against the virus in the past 24 hrs.

World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan has said that B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus, which was detected in India back in October last year, is the reason behind the devastating Covid surge in the country. Though WHO has not added the new mutant in its ‘variant of concern’ list, Swaminathan said that B.1.617 has a higher degree of transmission rate and may also escape the vaccine immunity.

The Modi govt has so far said that the double mutant is a key factor for the second wave. But it needs more clinical research on the same, she added.

New Delhi, May 14: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to cancel the CBSE and ICSE board examinations of Class 12 amid the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the plea, petitioner advocate Mamta Sharma said, “step-motherly arbitrary, inhuman directions” have been issued to the innocent students to postpone the final examination for an unspecified duration instead of following the directions propounded and accepted by them last year.
The plea prayed to devise an objective methodology to declare the class 12 results within a specific timeframe, saying even online or offline examinations not feasible in the current situation.
It also sought to set aside the earlier notifications issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE).
The plea further pointed out that delay in the declaration of Class 12 results will hamper students taking admission in foreign universities.
Amid the ongoing pandemic, the CBSE exams for Class 12 which were slated to be held between May 4 to June 14 had been postponed. With Class 12 results being the basis for admission into higher education institutions, it had been decided to postpone the exams.
The CBSE informed that it will review the situation on June 1.
A notice of at least 15 days will be given before the start of the examinations, according to an official statement.

New Delhi, May 13: The National Register of Citizens (NRC) authority in Assam on Thursday approached the Supreme Court seeking a comprehensive and time-bound re-verification of NRC citing irregularity in the process of making its draft that was published on August 31, 2019.
In the interlocutory application, the State Coordinator of Assam NRC, Hitesh Dev Sarma also sought the removal of illegal voters from Assam’s electoral rolls besides the revision of the draft NRC.
The plea also prayed for a supplementary list under a relevant clause of the Schedule of Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
It contended that “glaring anomalies of serious nature” have been noticed in the process which relates to security and integrity of the nation, saying several people who are not OI (Original Inhabitants) have been added in the NRC under the OI list.
The application further said that some “issues of substantive importance” cropped up while preparing the rejecting slips, thus delaying the process.
Among the 3.3 crore applications, more than 19 lakh people were left out of the final list of the Assam NRC that was published on August 31, 2019. The number of people left out comprised around 6 per cent of Assam’s entire population.
In July 2019, the Assam government and the Centre had knocked on the doors of the top court for a re-verification exercise but was dismissed after a submission said that 27 per cent of the names were already verified again.
After taking oath on Monday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had asserted to partially verify the contentious National Register of Citizens.

New Delhi, May 12: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea of activist Gautam Navlakha, seeking bail in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case of Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra.

A bench of justices UU Lalit and K M Joseph dismissed the appeal of Navlakha against the Bombay High Court order denying him bail in the case.

The activist wanted to include the 34-day period of his unlawful custody in 2018 while computing the period for filing the charge sheet under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

According to the prosecution, some activists allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet in Pune on December 31, 2017, which triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district the next day.

It has also alleged that the event was backed by some Maoist groups.

New Delhi, May 13: The National Regulator of the country, the Drugs Controller General of India has granted permission to Bharat Biotech Ltd to conduct the phase II/III clinical trial of Covaxin (COVID vaccine) in the age group 2 to 18 years, a release issued by Health Ministry said on Thursday.
Hyderabad based M/s Bharat Biotech International Ltd. had proposed to carry out a phase- II/III clinical trial of Covaxin in the age group of 2 to 18 years. The trial will be conducted on 525 healthy volunteers.
In the trial, the vaccine will be given by intramuscular route in two doses at day 0 and day 28, the release read.
As a rapid regulatory response, the proposal was deliberated in the Subject Expert Committee on May 11, it read.
After detailed deliberation, the Committee recommended for grant of permission to conduct the proposed Phase II/III clinical trial to certain conditions.

New Delhi, May 11: The Central Government on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that the construction work taking place in and around the Rajpath in the central Delhi during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown was not for the Central Vista Project but for public amenities like new toilet blocks, parking spaces and pedestrian underpasses.

The Delhi High Court was hearing a plea seeking a stay on all the construction at the Central Vista amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is respectfully submitted that the scope of work for the project in question is not what is colloquially referred to as the Central Vista Project,” the Centre’s affidavit said as quoted by Bar and Bench.

“It may be noted that the scope of work is as follows: (i.) Providing public amenities like toilet blocks, paths, parking space, vendorzone; 3 (ii.) Making four pedestrian underpasses below Janpath and C-Hexagon Road. (iii.) Improvement of canals, bridges, lawns, lights etc,” it further stated.

Petitioners Anya Malhotra, a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker had alleged that the disaster management authority circular has been violated by the central government as only emergency or essential services are allowed during the lockdown.

Also, the petitioners pointed out that as per the guidelines, all construction activities have to be stopped except the ones where labourers are residing on the site.

The workers for the Vista project are being ferried by bus from Karol Bagh, Kirti Nagar and Sarai Kale Khan, the petitioners alleged.

The Central government, however, submitted that full arrangements have been made to ensure that the construction activities happen in compliance with the COVID protocol.

“It is submitted that in the meantime, a COVID compliant facility was installed at the worksite itself, to accommodate the 250 workers who had expressed their willingness to stay put and continue the aforesaid work.

The facility provides for strict implementation of COVID protocol strictly and also adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour, such as sanitisation, thermal screening, physical/social distancing and masking,” it was submitted.

The affidavit also questioned the intentions of the petitioners as they chose only Central Vista Project while overlooking the construction work on projects of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Public Works Department (PWD) and others.

“The petitioner has chosen to be a ‘public-spirited citizen’ only with regard to one project only speaks volumes about his intentions and motive behind filing the present petition that too suppressing all these facts,” the affidavit alleged.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh adjourned the matter for Wednesday since the Central government’s reply was not on record.

The court had earlier kept the matter for hearing on May 17 without passing any orders. The petitioner had then approached the Supreme Court against the same contending that the urgency and public health emergency sought to be addressed by the petition would stand defeated by adjourning the matter to May 17.

The Apex Court, however, declined to interfere but granted liberty to the petitioners to mention the matter before the Delhi High Court for early hearing.

A new Parliament House, a new residential complex, which will house the Prime Minister and the Vice-President, government buildings of several offices and a Central Secretariat to accommodate Ministry offices, will be rebuild in and around the Rajpath area, under the umbrella of Central Vista Project.

A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had on January 5 given green signal to the project, rejecting the petitions challenging the project for alleged violation of land use and environmental norms.

New Delhi, May 10: The Delhi High Court will hear on Tuesday the plea seeking an interim stay on the construction work underway for the Central Vista project in New Delhi.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DN Patel and comprising Justice Jasmeet Singh agreed to hear the matter on May 11 after Advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the petitioners, informed the bench about the Supreme Court order.

The apex court on Friday declined the plea seeking a stay on the Central Vista project as the matter was pending in the High Court.

However, the top court granted liberty to petitioners to approach the Delhi High Court for an early hearing.

Petitioners Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi knocked on the doors of the top court after the Delhi High Court refused to put a stay on the Central Vista redevelopment project and adjourned the matter to May 17.

The plea contended that the construction of the project has a “super spreading potential and threat” to the workers who are being exposed to the infection daily while working and that too without payment.

The construction work for the Rs 20,000 crore project in the heart of the capital’s power corridors has been brought under the ambit of “essential services”, a move that has angered the opposition.

The opposition and activists have hit out hard at the government for continuing with work on the project in the middle of the pandemic.

The plan also recently received an environmental clearance which paves way for a new home for the Prime Minister to be built by December 2022.

New Delhi, May 8: India recorded 4,187 fatalities over the 24 hours pushing the cumulative death toll to 2,38,270, marking the worst daily increase since the start of the outbreak, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

The number of confirmed cases has increased by 4,01,078 to 2,18,92,676 within the same period of time.

Of these, over 37 lakh cases are currently active, while more than 17.93 million people have recovered since the start of the pandemic.

At least 14 states are reporting cases in five figures. Maharashtra reported about 54,000 cases, Karnataka had nearly 49,000, while Kerala had over 38,000.

The Union Health Ministry Friday said states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Jharkhand have shown plateauing of daily Covid cases gradually. The ministry also said that 12 states have over one lakh active Covid-19 cases while seven states have 50,000 to one lakh active cases.

Meanwhile, 16,73,46,544 people have been vaccinated against the virus since Jan.

India comes second in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the United States with more than 32.65 million patients.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, more than 156.49 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 3.26 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

New Delhi, May 11: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday suggested Centre that in order to meet the high demand of COVID-19 vaccines, not only just two, but more companies should also be engaged in making vaccine and vaccine formula should be shared with other companies in the country.

Addressing a digital press conference here, Mr Kejriwal said the scarcity of vaccines has now become a major challenge for the country.

‘Today, only two companies are making the vaccine. These two together make only 6-7 crore vaccines per month. In this sense, vaccinating the entire country will take more than 2 years. Till then we don’t even know how many waves will come about and how much destruction we will have to face,’ he said.

‘Thus we must increase the production of vaccines in India on insurmountable levels and formulate a national policy to vaccinate every person within the next few months. Unless everyone is vaccinated, the battle cannot be won,’ Mr Kejriwal said.

Mr Kejriwal said, ‘Today I want to give a suggestion.’ He said the vaccine production work should not just be carried by two companies only.

‘Many companies should be engaged in vaccine production. The Central Government should take the formula for producing the vaccine from these two companies and give it to all those companies which can safely make the vaccines,’ Mr Kejriwal said.

He said in these difficult times, the Central Government has the power that it can execute this. It can make the vaccine-producing formula publically available to the companies that want to make the vaccines, the Delhi Chief Minister said.

‘It should be ensured that whichever plants are successful in making the vaccine in India, vaccines should be produced in all of them and every Indian should be vaccinated. This is the only way by which we can vaccinate all the Indians rapidly,’ he said.

‘Today, many Indian companies are making the PPE kit. That is why we are not dependent upon others for PPE kits. India houses some of the greatest industrialists. We have some of the biggest pharma companies in the world. We have world-renowned scientists. I can say this with a guarantee that if they are given the opportunity, then they will provide full support,’ the Delhi Chief Minister said.

‘A part of the benefit received by the vaccine-producing companies can be given out as royalty to those companies which discovered the original formula. I have full faith that in this manner we will be able to provide a protection to every citizen of India, before the next wave,’ he said.

New Delhi, May 9: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced the extension of COVID-19 lockdown for one more week, in a bid to stem the spread of the dreaded virus.

The restrictions, which also includes the suspension of Metro services, will now stay in place till 17 May. Addressing a digital press conference here, Mr Kejriwal said, ‘We must remember that ‘Jaan Hai Toh Jahan Hai’, therefore, this lockdown will be stricter and the Delhi Metro will not be plying from May 10.’

Notably, the National Capital is already under a lockdown since April 19, 2200 hrs.

“On April 20, Delhi imposed the lockdown, on April 26, the positivity rate touched 35 per cent and with the cooperation of the citizens now the positivity rate is around 23 per cent, which means the chain of COVID infection has started to break,” the Chief Minister said adding that every citizen has cooperated during this lockdown and expressed his hope that this cooperation will continue.

Mr Kejriwal said he spoke to people across the spectrum to get their feedback on lockdown. During this lockdown, the Delhi government has worked round the clock to develop better health infrastructure and to upgrade the system, Mr Kejriwal said.

He said that the Central government has helped Delhi in every situation, and since at present, more vaccines were the need of the hour, he hoped that the Centre will provide an adequate number of vaccines soon.

New Delhi, May 10: More than 1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses (1,04,30,063) are still

available with the states and Union Territories (UTs) to be administered, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said here on Monday.

States with negative balance are showing more consumption (including wastage) than

vaccine supplied as they have not reconciled the vaccine they have supplied to Armed Forces.

Furthermore, more than 9 lakh (9,24,910) vaccine doses will be received in addition by the states and UTs within the next three days, the Ministry said in a statement.

The Centre has so far provided nearly 18 crore vaccine doses (17,93,57,860) to states and UTs

free of cost. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 16,89,27,797 doses

New Delhi, May 14: Describing COVID-19 as ‘an invisible enemy’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Government is fighting the deadly virus with all its might and and hoped to overcome the challenge with strength and dedication.

In his address after releasing 8th instalment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme today via video conferencing, the Prime Minister said, ‘ This once in a century pandemic is challenging the world, as it is an invisible enemy in front of us.’

He said the Government is fighting COVID-19 with all its might and ensuring that every government

department is working day and night to ease the pain of the nation.

The Prime Minister remarked that Central Government and all the State Governments together, are making continuous efforts to enable more and more countrymen to get vaccinated at a rapid pace.

He said so far, around 18 crore vaccine doses have been given across the country. Free vaccination is being done in government hospitals across the country.

The Prime Minister urged everyone to register for the vaccine when their turn comes and ensure covid appropriate behaviour at all times.

He added that this vaccine is an important means of protection against corona and will reduce the risk of serious illness.

The Prime Minister said Armed forces are working with full strength to ensure oxygen supply in these tough times. Railways are also running oxygen express trains. The pharma sector of the country is manufacturing and delivering medicines at a large scale.

He requested the State Governments to ensure strict laws to counter black marketing of medicines and medical supplies.

The Prime Minister remarked that India is not a nation that loses hope in tough times and hoped that this challenge would be overcome with strength and dedication.

He warned about the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas as well and urged the village panchayats to ensure proper awareness and sanitation in their respective areas.

New Delhi, May 14: India reported 3.43 lakh fresh COVID-19 cases and 4,000 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the overall infections and fatalities to 2,40,46,809 and 2,62,317, respectively, the Union Ministry of Health said on Friday.

The country currently has 37.04 lakh active cases accounting for 15.65 per cent of the country’s total infections at 15.41 per cent.

With as many as 3,44,776 people being discharged in past one day, the total number of recoveries have reached 2,00,79,599. India’s recovery rate is 83.50 per cent.

As per government data, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana cumulatively account for 79.67 per cent of the total active cases.

Indian Council of Medical Research tested 18,75,515 samples for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. It has so far tested 31,13,24,100 samples.

Since the launch of the first phase of vaccination, 17,92,98,584 people have been inoculated against the virus with 20,27,162 doses being given since Thursday, the Ministry said.

Meanwhile, nearly 18 crore people have been vaccinated so far, according to the Health Ministry. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh account for 66.73 per cent of the cumulative doses, the Ministry said.

Amidst this, the government has increased the gap between the first and second doses of the Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks – from the existing 6-8 weeks. This is for the second time in three months that Covishield dosage intervals have been widened.

States like Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka have called for global tenders for procuring COVID-19 vaccines after witnessing a shortage of vaccines.

The central government and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech have expressed willingness to invite other companies which want to produce Covaxin to help scale up its production, according to a top government advisor. “Companies that want to manufacture Covaxin, should do it together. The Centre will assist so that capacity is increased,” NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said.

As per World Health Organisation (WHO), globally, there have been 160,074,267 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,325,260 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 11 May 2021, a total of 1,264,164,553 vaccine doses have been administered.

The United States has recovered the highest number of infections (3,24,61,049), followed by India, Brazil (1,52,82,705) and France (5,72,826).

New Delhi, May 9: The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has released an amount of Rs 8,923.8 crore to 25 states for providing grants to the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) in advance, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grants are meant for all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions – village, block, and district, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement here on Sunday.

The amount released on Saturday is the first installment of the ‘Untied Grants’ for the year 2021-22.

It may be utilized by the RLBs, among other things, for various prevention and mitigation measures needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, it will augment resources to the three tiers of Panchayats for fighting the contagion.

As per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the 1st instalment of untied grants was to be released to the states in June. However, in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation and at the recommendation of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the Ministry of Finance has decided to release the grant in advance of the normal schedule, the statement said.

Moreover, the 15th Finance Commission had imposed certain conditions for the release of untied grants. The conditions include online availability of accounts of a certain percentage of Rural Local Bodies in the public domain. But taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances, this condition has been waived for release of the first installment of untied grants.

New Delhi, May 11: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that the country could hit the target of USD 400 billion in merchandise exports due to the performance of the sector in April this year and in fiscal 2020-21.

He said there is a large potential for enhancing exports in several sectors like Pharma, Engineering, Auto-component, Fisheries and Agro-product.

The minister was addressing a meeting with Export Promotion Councils to discuss various issues concerning international trade.

Goyal complimented the exporters for their encouraging performance, even during such trying times.

He noted that India’s merchandise exports last month was USD30.21 billion, an increase of 197.03 per cent over USD 10.17 billion in April 2020 and an increase of 16.03 per cent over USD 26.04 billion in April 2019.

He said that the value of export in the first week of May 2021 was also up by almost 9 per cent over the same period of 2019-20 (6.48 billion USD).

He said that Export excluding POL, is even better, and has increased in this period by 15% over same period of 2019-20.

Regarding the issues raised by the participants, Goyal said that they should approach the Covid helpdesk of the Department for resolving the problems emanating due to Covid related measures.

He said that the Department of Commerce has taken up several issues of exporters with the Ministry of Finance for their early resolution.

He called upon the exporters to take advantage of the Production-Linked Incentive schemes for various sectors which have been announced.